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Learn the meaning and origin of the phrase 'Mind your Ps and Qs', which means be on your best behaviour or be careful of your language. Find out the possible sources of the expression, from pubs to printing to wigs, and the doubts about its spelling and usage.
Mind your Ps and Qs. Mind your Ps and Qs is an English language expression meaning "mind your manners", "mind your language", "be on your best behaviour", or "watch what you're doing". Attempts at explaining the origin of the phrase go back to the mid-19th century.
P's and q's are something (such as one's manners) that one should be mindful of. The phrase comes from the difficulty a child learning to write has in distinguishing between p and q.
- The Basic Politeness Theory
- The Scribal abbreviation Theory
- The Pigtail and Overcoat Theory
- The French Country Dancing Theory
- The Let’s All Have A Drink Theory
- The Handwriting/Typesetting Theory
Probably the most widely held explanation also happens to be the most straightforward: p’s sounds a bit like “please,” q’s sounds a bit like “thank yous,” so to mind your p’s and q’s ultimately means “to mind your good manners.” It’s a neat idea, but it’s not a particularly reliable one: There isn’t enough textual evidence to support it, which sugg...
A much less well-known explanation suggests that your p’s and q’s might actually have their origins way back when handwritten Latin documents were still being widely compiled and interpreted. Latin is a tough enough language to get your head around at the best of times, but in the Medieval period, scholars and scribes were seemingly determined to m...
The earliest record we have of someone’s p’s and q’s comes from a snappily titled Jacobean stage play called Satiromastix, or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet written by the English playwright Thomas Dekker in 1601. The line in questionreads, “Now thou art in thy Pee and Kue, thou hast such a villanous broad backe.” Both Dekker’s unusual spellin...
Forget the pea-coat for a second. Imagine instead that you’re wearing your favorite queue-peruke while simultaneously learning to dance a courtly French jig. You’d understandably have to be careful not to hit the other dancers in the face with the tail end of your peruke as you were paying close attention to your feet. And the French word for foot?...
In 1607, five years after the publication of Satiromastix, Dekker published another play called Westward Hoe. It contains the line, “at her p. and q. neither Marchantes [merchant’s] daughter, Aldermans wife, young countrey Gentle-woman, nor Courtiers Mistris [mistress], can match her.” Same author, same phrase. But very different spelling. The Oxfo...
This is the explanation Merriam-Webster ascribes to: Children being taught to read and write commonly mix up their lowercase p’s and lowercaseq’s, so telling them to “mind their p’s and q’s” means telling them to be extra careful, so as not to make a mistake. Similarly, another theory suggests that the originalp’s and q’s might have been the indivi...
Jun 4, 2010 · The phrase 'Mind your P's and Q's' is an admonishment to mind one's manners, but its origin is uncertain. Learn about the four main theories and why they are flawed, and see the first print sighting of the saying in 1756.
Learn the meaning and usage of the old-fashioned idiom mind your p's and q's, which means to be especially polite in a situation. See examples, synonyms, translations and related words.
Nov 3, 1989 · Learn the possible explanations for the expression \"mind your P's and Q's\", which means to be careful or attentive. Find out the difference between \"on the q.t.\" and \"out of sorts\", and the role of printing in some theories.
